Jones the Elder ran in the Democratic Primary in February and faces perennial candidate Ray Wardingley, who used to run for office in he "Spanky the Clown" outfit.
Had he made his retirement plans known last year, real change could have taken place--a spirited Democratic Primary contest would have taken place.
Machine pol Jones knows that, which is why he's retiring now, and setting it up so his son can take his place on the ballot.
And there is a lot of anger about it in the Chicago area. Rep. Bill Lipinski (D-Chicago) pulled the same stunt four years ago, and Cook County President John Stroger was replaced on the fall ballot two years ago by his incompetent son, Todd "Urkel" Stroger. Obama had the audacity to call this hack, "a good, progressive Democrat."
Five million Cook County residents, including myself, are choking on the stench from Stroger the Younger's corruption tax.
The media is ripping into Jones. Roe Conn spent this first hour of his WLS-AM talk radio show trashing Jones, and then added, "Wait till the national media hears about this!"
In today's Chicago Tribune, John Kass hammers Jones and the Democrats. Free registrtion required for the link. The Trib's Ray Long interviewed Jones, who had this to say about nepotism.
I recall John F. Kennedy, president of the United States, when he became president, he recommended his brother. Right? And his brother was elected," Jones said, in an apparent reference to Sen. Ted Kennedy, who followed his brother as a senator from Massachusetts.
"Mayor Richard M. Daley begot . . . Richard J. Daley," Jones continued, inadvertently reversing the order of the Daley mayors.
But Kennedy and Daley didn't retire after a primary.
Carol Marin's latest Chicago Sun-Times column, "Nepotitis," was moved to the front page.
In an editorial, the Sun-Times sarcastically congratulates Jones for easing his son's path to elected office.
And former Illinois legislator Cal Skinner doesn't think Jones will be leaving the public payroll.
What does the Cult of Change leader, Barack Obama, have to say about this?
As for myself, this is not "Change I can believe in."
Related posts:
More on Emil Jones' bait-and-switch
UPDATED: Obama mentor Emil Jones to announce retirement today
Update on Cook County, America's worst governmental body
Obama's state legislative record--he got a lot of help
Technorati tags:
politics 
Illinois 
Election 
Democrats 
Chicago 
Obama 
Barack Obama 
Emil Jones 
cronyism 
nepotism 
Stroger 
corruption tax
No comments:
Post a Comment